Verdi Requiem conducted by Daniele Gatti
Remembering the Dresden Bombing 80 years later
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| Semperoper Dresden | 12 & 13 February |
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| Singing in the Verdi Requiem, one of the composer’s most explosive, complex works, is a milestone that I reached years ago: I’ve performed in it many times, under the baton of eminent conductors. The last time was with the Orchestre National de France conducted by Daniele Gatti. Precisely three years after that concert, I will again be singing in the Requiem, this time on two consecutive evenings at the Semperoper Dresden with the Sächsischer Staatsopernchor Dresden and the Staatskapelle conducted by Maestro Gatti, who is also their principal conductor. I’m preparing for these performances of the Requiem in Dresden with heightened consciousness, since they are to commemorate one of the most destructive bombardments in the Second World War, on 13th and 14th February 1945, during which most of the city of Dresden was razed to the ground and its theatre was also bombed. By revisiting the work already performed in 2005 for the same anniversary, I think that Maestro Gatti has made a significant choice from a historical, ethical and musical perspective. Because words can never fully transmit the horror of war, and peace treaties can never entirely alleviate the wounds of war. I think that the only remedy for these is music and its sacredness, independently of any political or religious stance. |
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| I am deeply honoured and moved to be called to bear witness with my voice to such noble values, alongside an excellent cast and with one of the oldest, most important orchestras in the world, with a conductor to whom I am indebted for some of my most intense artistic performances. I will round off this experience, which transcends that of its supreme music, by visiting the commemorative exhibition set up at the theatre, recording its destruction and subsequent restoration, completed forty years ago in 1985. |
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